Meatpacker BRF announces change in CEO

Brazil

Published: 06 September, 2017

The Board of Directors of one of the world’s biggest food companies announced it has dismissed Pedro Faria, the current CEO, amid divergences within the company.

Faria is to remain CEO until December 31 when he is to be replaced by a new leader from outside the company. Abilio Diniz, President of the Board, told local media there have not been any “mistakes” and the decision aims to correct the company’s future trajectory. “It is a transition to a new cycle”, said Diniz.

BRF is one of Brazil’s biggest meatpackers and is said to have suffered from the rotten meat scandal that broke out in March this year, recording heavy quarterly losses. The Company is reported to have posted R$167 million (US$53 million) in losses in the second quarter ending June 2017.

On August 2, Jose Roberto Pernomian, BRF’s Vice-President, second in command to Faria, resigned after being sentenced to prison for five years and two months on a semi-open sentence for fraud allegations not related to his position at the meatpacker. Pernomian is said to have been involved fraudulent activities regarding the imports of electronic equipment when he was Director at Mude, a company that represents North American IT and networking systems company Cisco in Brazil.

Faria is to return to his previous employer Tarpon Investimentos, one of Brazil’s leading value-oriented asset managers.